The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

It’s 1959, the year Anna Conway turns 16. She misses with fierce longing her grandmother Meema, a painter who helped raise her. Anna’s parents are loving but uncomprehending of Anna’s intensity at school, where she finds mathematics not only pleasurable but beautiful. She also takes pleasure in Mike, who cares for her, takes her to the movies and gives her his ID bracelet. Readers will wait tensely with Anna while she maneuvers to get her parents to let her enter a statewide math contest, and then go to Chicago to participate in a national one. Contemporary teens will likely be fascinated not only by how strict Anna’s parents are in terms of monitoring her activities and actions, but with how much she, as a girl with deep mathematical talent, has to struggle just to use it and to keep learning. Anna’s strength, coming from her Meema’s belief in her, is vivid and natural in this first-person narrative. The mathematics is elegantly and clearly described, and her relationship with Mike is lovely. He supports and admires her, they have sex (mostly offstage) and it neither ruins her life nor directs it. A terrific teen read. (Fiction. YA)

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